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Oliver the Western Engine
"Oliver the Western Engine" was first published in 1969. It was written by the Reverend W. Awdry and illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards. =Stories= Donald's Duck The Fat Controller has re-opened the Arlesburgh branch, and asks Duck to run it for him. Duck is proud, and one night when sharing his shed with Donald, speaks so much about his responsibility that Donald, fed up, makes quacking noises and says Duck's laid an egg. Duck, furious, makes a plan to get revenge, and his crew put a duckling in Donald's watertank. She pops out the next day at the water-tower, and Donald realises it was Duck's pay-back. The duck is tame, and rides with Donald for a fair while, until she gets off at Haultraugh. Donald and his crew, plotting a last joke, place a nestbox with an egg in it behind Duck's bunker. Duck acknowledges defeat, and nowadays the duck lives happily at Haultraugh. Resource and Sagacity After Oliver was rescued by Douglas in the previous book, he and his coach Isabel were repainted in Great Western colours, joined by another coach called Dulcie and started working on Duck's branch. The big engines are amazed at Oliver's adventures, and say approving things to him, making him proud and over-confident. Oliver soon meets his match when a load of grumpy ballast trucks push him into the turntable well. After Duck, Donald, Douglas and the Fat Controller speak to him sternly, he is left feeling very silly. Toad Stands By When Oliver returns, the trucks, led by a wagon named Scruffey, make rude songs about him. The others try to get them to shunt up, but no avail. Toad makes a plan and asks Douglas if he can share it with Oliver. Duck is apprehensive, but Oliver feels he must make things right, and so it is arranged. Oliver lines the worst trucks up, with guidance from Toad, and starts. Scruffey, who is at the front, tells the others to hold back, and they do, but Oliver is so determined he simply pulls Scruffey to pieces. Although the the Fat Controller attributes it to Scruffey's poor design, he whispers to Oliver to keep it quiet. It's for a good reason, too, because the trucks are so afraid Oliver will pull them apart that they never trouble him again. Bulgy It's Bank Holiday, and Duck meets a left-wing doubledecker bus named Bulgy, who is determined to scrap all railways. Oliver tells Duck that he shouldn't be taken seriously, but is worried when Bulgy's friend arrives, leaving Bulgy free to take their passengers with the promise of a faster way home and the lie that he is a railway bus. Duck, cross, is puffing home when he is stopped by a bridge where Bulgy has wedged underneath. Duck carefully makes it across, and takes the passengers home. In the end, Bulgy stays under the bridge until it is mended, but continues to lie, and eventually was turned into a henhouse for a farm near the bridge. =Featured Characters= * Henry * Gordon * James * Duck * Donald and Douglas * Oliver * Isabel and Dulcie * Alice and Mirabel * Toad * Scruffey * Rex (cameo only) * Bert (cameo only) * Mike (cameo only) * Fred Pelhay (cameo only) * Rickety (cameo only) * Bulgy's friend (mention only) =Trivia= * The Reverend W. Awdry wanted to name this book "Little Western Engines", but the publishers insisted on having an engine's name in the title. In the foreword, Awdry jokes that if Oliver starts to get conceited, he will set the publishers onto him. * "M.", to whom the foreword was addressed to, is Margaret Awdry, the Reverend W. Awdry's late wife. Category: Railway Series Books